Narrative:

After being on trips with late reports for several months I had a show time of XA30 am yesterday. It was show time that was fairly manageable but still a little early. As a result of my body clock and circadian rhythm having been adjusted to a 'second shift' lifestyle I slept approximately only 6 hours prior to my morning show time. Though I had a minor sleep deficit my having been on five days of scheduled time off enabled me to be well rested to perform my duty competently. During the course of the day I was notified by scheduling that I had been rescheduled for the following day for a very early morning show time for a 6 leg 12 hour day. I immediately advised the scheduler that would result in inadequate rest and a likely fatigue situation. She responded by telling me 'we have to do what we have to do.' I made no further comment and ended the conversation.I arrived after 6 legs into my scheduled ron without incident. Once in my room I was; as I expected; unable to fall asleep prior to midnight and in total managed only about 3.5 hours of sleep before waking at XU00 for a XU30 van. Initially I felt 'ok' and decided to start the day and self-assess my fitness for duty as the day progressed. Over the course of the first flight; during the preflight; all phases of flight; I was making minor procedural errors but all were caught and resolved by cross-checking and using positive CRM. However; after completing the flight and doing a self-assessment it was clear I was suffering from fatigue. I then recognized I was not fit for duty without further rest and immediately notified scheduling after blocking in. I was made aware of my condition by experiencing common signs of fatigue: inability to focus or concentrate; and making minor errors that would not otherwise have been made.this fatigue event occurred due to a cumulative rest deficit. The initial rest deficit would have been resolved had I been allowed to remain on my awarded schedule as I would have easily caught up on needed sleep. The rest deficit was enhanced by a total disregard for safety and crew potential for fitness for duty on behalf of scheduling. Failure to consider the effect my preceding schedules would have on my ability to gain adequate rest for an early morning show time; and total disregard for my advisory to this effect. This airline endlessly demonstrates it is complete lack of concern for it's pilot's fitness for duty. Getting a flight covered should be secondary to safety; not the first concern. Scheduled crew cards for pilots even when having erratic report times are at least somewhat manageable as a pilot has forewarning insofar as how to adjust bedtimes appropriately for an upcoming trip. But random reschedules with no consideration for that pilot's prior schedule will nearly always cause a disruption in a pilot's rest and result in fatigue. I understand that the company is short staffed and reschedules are necessary. But better forethought and planning on behalf of scheduling may have prevented this fatigue event. Scheduling should have considered my potential for fitness for duty; taken my advisory seriously and switched me with a first officer that had been doing early show times for the overnight and subsequent early am show time; then put me on something else with a show time comparable to the first day. If such a thing was completely unable due to crew availability then the early flight should have been canceled. Solving crew shortage problems in this manner will only lead to more fatigue callouts and disrupt daily operations more then need be. Pilots are not cyborgs; we are not androids and we do not have the ability to randomly reset our body clocks to meet the needs of an understaffed airline.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Dash 8 First Officer detailed fatigue inducing rescheduling which culminated in her refusal to complete the scheduled flight sequence due to cumulative fatigue.

Narrative: After being on trips with late reports for several months I had a show time of XA30 am yesterday. It was show time that was fairly manageable but still a little early. As a result of my body clock and circadian rhythm having been adjusted to a 'second shift' lifestyle I slept approximately only 6 hours prior to my morning show time. Though I had a minor sleep deficit my having been on five days of scheduled time off enabled me to be well rested to perform my duty competently. During the course of the day I was notified by scheduling that I had been rescheduled for the following day for a very early morning show time for a 6 leg 12 hour day. I immediately advised the scheduler that would result in inadequate rest and a likely fatigue situation. She responded by telling me 'we have to do what we have to do.' I made no further comment and ended the conversation.I arrived after 6 legs into my scheduled RON without incident. Once in my room I was; as I expected; unable to fall asleep prior to midnight and in total managed only about 3.5 hours of sleep before waking at XU00 for a XU30 van. Initially I felt 'OK' and decided to start the day and self-assess my fitness for duty as the day progressed. Over the course of the first flight; during the preflight; all phases of flight; I was making minor procedural errors but all were caught and resolved by cross-checking and using positive CRM. However; after completing the flight and doing a self-assessment it was clear I was suffering from fatigue. I then recognized I was not fit for duty without further rest and immediately notified scheduling after blocking in. I was made aware of my condition by experiencing common signs of fatigue: inability to focus or concentrate; and making minor errors that would not otherwise have been made.This fatigue event occurred due to a cumulative rest deficit. The initial rest deficit would have been resolved had I been allowed to remain on my awarded schedule as I would have easily caught up on needed sleep. The rest deficit was enhanced by a total disregard for safety and crew potential for fitness for duty on behalf of scheduling. Failure to consider the effect my preceding schedules would have on my ability to gain adequate rest for an early morning show time; and total disregard for my advisory to this effect. This airline endlessly demonstrates it is complete lack of concern for it's pilot's fitness for duty. Getting a flight covered should be secondary to safety; not the first concern. Scheduled crew cards for pilots even when having erratic report times are at least somewhat manageable as a pilot has forewarning insofar as how to adjust bedtimes appropriately for an upcoming trip. But random reschedules with no consideration for that pilot's prior schedule will nearly always cause a disruption in a pilot's rest and result in fatigue. I understand that the company is short staffed and reschedules are necessary. But better forethought and planning on behalf of scheduling may have prevented this fatigue event. Scheduling should have considered my potential for fitness for duty; taken my advisory seriously and switched me with a First Officer that had been doing early show times for the overnight and subsequent early AM show time; then put me on something else with a show time comparable to the first day. If such a thing was completely unable due to crew availability then the early flight should have been canceled. Solving crew shortage problems in this manner will only lead to more fatigue callouts and disrupt daily operations more then need be. Pilots are not cyborgs; we are not androids and we DO NOT have the ability to randomly reset our body clocks to meet the needs of an understaffed airline.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.